Birthday Message
by AA Addict
Summary: Arthur had a HUGE crush on Alfred. Like, we're talking larger-than-the-Pacific-Ocean huge. Now, Arthur had to give Alfred a sweet birthday message for his sixteenth on Facebook, but how could he POSSIBLY do that without making his crush incredibly obvious!


_It's Alfred's birthday today! Send him a birthday wish to let him know you're thinking of him!_

Yes, Arthur knew it was Alfred's birthday. He didn't need a Facebook notification to tell him that it was his _crush's birthday_.

Furthermore, Arthur was always thinking of Alfred. Well, not _always_. That would be creepy and obsessive. Just enough times during the day to confirm that he did indeed have a crush on Alfred.

If he let Alfred know he was thinking of him, Alfred would _know_ he had a huge-ass crush on him.

But Arthur _needed_ to send him a birthday wish. Alfred was the type of guy who regularly updated his Facebook status, tagged people (mostly Arthur and Matthew) in stuff, posted pictures, the like. He'd consider the lack of a Facebook birthday message an insult.

So Arthur _had_ to send him a birthday message.

The only thing was, he didn't know _how_. Not _literally_ ; he knew what he had to do to post it, he just _didn't know_ _what to write_. Usually he just wrote a quick 'Happy birthday, Alfred!' and accompanied it with a picture of his favourite superhero or something, but he couldn't do that on Alfred's _sixteenth_! The sixteenth was _special_ , and so the message had to be _special_!

Plus, there was the fact that Alfred had sent that birthday message that made his heart flutter and made him fall deeper in love.

 _Happy birthday, Artie! Sixteen now, bro! Just wanted to say that you're a hella awesome friend and if I didn't have you in my life it would be duller 'cause I wouldn't have your shining sarcasm to brighten it up! Not to mention your intelligence and sharp wit and all that stuff. Also, your writing abilities are mega-awesome and you've got the best imagination I've ever seen! So, y'know. Have a hella awesome birthday, and I'm really glad you're my friend!_

Arthur could _not_ send a simple 'Happy birthday!'.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard, itching to type what he _really_ wanted to say. He _really_ wanted to tell Alfred what a brilliant person he was; tell him just how seeing his dazzling smile made Arthur's day better; tell him how his laugh was wonderfully infectious, if loud and obnoxious; tell him about how _addictive_ his shining optimism and hyperactivity were; tell him how his outrageous ideas were simply testament to how much of a genius he was; tell him that he was amazing in every sense of the word.

But that would be the same as typing 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALFRED DID YOU KNOW I HAVE A MASSIVE CRUSH ON YOU?'.

So, no.

Sighing in frustration, he procrastinated by finding a good picture of Captain America that he could edit into a Happy Birthday e-card, and then once he found one he procrastinated even _more_ by editing it. And this involved finding a suitable background, painstakingly cutting out the image of Steve Rogers, choosing the right colours and the right font, laying it out correctly, all of which took him an hour to do in total.

An hour later he had a perfect e-card, but no message.

 _Look, just write something which sounds like something you'd say!_

 _Yeah, but do I use real me or hiding-a-crush me?_

 _Use hiding-a-crush you, for God's sake! Unless you want to tell him how you feel, which I REALLY don't recommend. He's gay, but not gay for you._

 _Shut up, I don't need you to remind me!_

Scowling, Arthur went back onto Facebook. Conversations with himself surrounding his crush _always_ ended like that, with himself reminding him that he had no chance with Alfred. The boy was cheery, optimistic, sunny, dazzling. Why on _Earth_ would he ever want to burden himself down with Arthur's cynicism, pessimism, sarcasm, and bluntness? Being Alfred's love was only a fantasy. A shining, brilliant fantasy.

After debating for about five minutes on what to write, he finally typed in something, uploaded his e-card, and hit send.

 _ **Arthur Kirkland** \- **Alfred Foster Jones  
**_ _Happy birthday, wanker. Now you're sixteen years closer to death._

Satisfied, he switched off his laptop and began messing around on his phone, listening to music and scrolling through Tumblr and whatnot, his mind on other things. In a few hours he'd be going to Alfred's and the two would be going to the ice-skating rink for his party, along with a few of their other friends who they'd meet there. He couldn't wait to go to Alfred's house, to sit with him on the bus, to skate with him, to have Alfred hold his hands as he taught Arthur how to skate, to fall into Alfred's arms when he would end up tripping...

His notification tone rang out, effectively snapping him out of his wonderful daydream. Irritated, he checked his messages, and scoffed. Turned out it was Francis who'd texted him. Francis was his best friend, but he still didn't approve of being texted by him when he was in the middle of imagining how Alfred's strong arms would feel around him.

- _Arthur what kind of birthday message was THAT_

Arthur stared in confusion before he remembered that _everyone_ could see his birthday message, not just Alfred.

- _A fine one. Why do you ask?_

- _Arthur that was anything but fine you have a CRUSH on this boy why are you like this_

Arthur scowled. A few months ago (on Arthur's birthday, incidentally), Francis had figured out the object of Arthur's affections when he'd caught sight of Arthur smiling and blushing uncontrollably in response to Alfred's birthday message, and now he'd taken it upon himself to be his Romantic Advisor. His 'advice', however, always seemed to be along the lines of 'hint until he figures it out'.

- _Well, I'm not exactly going to give him a sappy message, am I? He'll KNOW I like him if I do that!_

- _Mon DIEU Arthur! You'll scare him off at this rate!_

- _Pfft, Alfred knows I wish him well. If he didn't, he wouldn't have stayed my friend all these years, would he? Honestly, I think sending a heartfelt message would scare him more._

 _-You are hopeless_

Another notification tone rang out, and Arthur pulled down the drop-down menu to read it.

 _Alfred Foster Jones commented on your picture._

His birthday message popped up, and Arthur felt a little nervous as he scrolled to see what Alfred had said. Despite his words to Francis, there was still the small chance Alfred might take offence, _especially_ considering the sweet birthday message he'd given Arthur.

 ** _Alfred Foster Jones  
_** _Haha love ya too british bastard XD_

Arthur let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and grinned like an idiot. Alfred _hadn't_ taken offence, and had even realised that he held him close to his heart.

 _He'd even said 'love ya too'_.

Arthur hid his face in his hands and did his best to refrain from gleefully jumping up and down, knowing he'd get all four of his brothers coming into his room and being nosy if he did so. So he contented himself with reading the comment over and over again (concentrating especially on the 'love ya too' part).

About five minutes later, Arthur's notification tone rang out _again_ , alerting him to a text that turned out to be from Alfred.

- _Dude?_

- _You there?_

Arthur hastened to respond. He didn't much mind texts from Alfred.

- _Yes, why?_

The next text made his breath hitch and eyes go wide.

- _Francis kinda told me you like me_

Arthur felt himself burn with both anger and embarrassment. On the _first day_ Francis had brought up his knowledge of Arthur's crush Arthur had very explicitly told him _not to tell Alfred_. And _what_ had the fucker done? _God_ , Alfred probably thought him some sort of weirdo freak now. He wouldn't want Arthur round at his house anymore, he would probably act awkward and uncomfortable around him now, they'd grow apart instead of closer –

- _Wait wait wait dont go and chew francis out!_

Arthur scowled – that was _exactly_ what he'd been planning on doing.

- _Why ever should I not? The bastard frog's embarrassed me._

- _Cause youre gonna thank him!_

He blinked, and furrowed his eyebrows. Was Alfred saying... What Arthur thought he was saying? Or was Arthur reading too far into it?

- _What a ludicrous notion._

- _Nah nah nah, its not ludicrous at all!_

 _-Cause, er..._

Arthur waited, his heart in his mouth. There was no way – Alfred _couldn't_ –

- _I kinda like you too, Artie._

Alfred _could_.

Arthur's eyes widened and a giddy, deliriously happy feeling took hold of him, making his heart beat a million times a minute and making him feel like he was soaring high above the world. He stared at the message until it was ingrained into his memory, not quite believing his _luck_.

Alfred liked him back.

 _Alfred liked him back_.

These two years of desperately wanting Alfred to be his wasn't for nothing, because _Alfred liked him back_.

- _Artie? You stil there?_

- _Yes._

The amount of restraint it took to not keyboard-smash an excited response was quite frankly astounding.

- _So?_

- _Whaddaya say?_

- _*'What do [I] say' to what?_

- _Pfft, grammar nerd_

- _Anyway, WHADDAYA say to me asking you out?_

Oh God.

Was Alfred _trying_ to make him spontaneously combust with joy?

If he'd needed self-restraint before, he needed ten times the amount now. For God's sake, Alfred had just _asked Arthur out_! Day after day Arthur had constructed scenarios in which they confessed to each other, but not once had it crossed his mind that it may actually have ended up _happening_.

 _Act cool, Arthur. Don't spaz him out._

- _I say that's a wonderful idea, and I'm inclined to respond with a 'yes'._

Not two seconds later Alfred called him, and Arthur pressed _Accept_ only to be met with Alfred's loud American voice screaming down the phone.

"OHMIGOD WE'RE DATING ARTIE WE'RE DATING HOLY SHIT YOU'RE MY BOYFRIEND OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD!"

Arthur could practically _hear_ the wide smile stretched across Alfred's face. What he wouldn't give to see it...

"How long have you liked me?" Alfred asked excitedly. "It's been eleven months for me, ever since we went to Alton Towers together."

"Tch, amateur," Arthur said, although Alfred's words made his heart go aflutter. _Eleven months_. For _eleven months_ Alfred had liked him. However small a time that was compared to how long Arthur had been yearning for Alfred, it still made him smile uncontrollably. "Try two years."

" _Two years_?!" He exclaimed. "How the heck did you _survive_?! I was going crazy with eleven months!"

"You learn a few tricks, I guess. Namely, just act how you acted before developing the attraction." God, Arthur didn't know how he was keeping himself so _calm_ when all he wanted to do was jump around with joy.

"I think it's a good thing that I couldn't hide it well, though," Alfred mused.

"How come?"

"Well, Francis found me out. That's why he told me that you like me, 'cause he knew about five months ago that I like you. Oh, he also told _me_ to tell _you_ that the only reason _he_ told _me_ that _you_ like _me_ is because – er, what was it – oh, because _you_ weren't ever going to get the ball rolling, so _he_ had to... Or something."

It was surprising that Arthur even understood that.

He laughed, not having the will to be irritated at Francis anymore. The bloke had literally just gotten Arthur and Alfred to date – being annoyed at him would be _criminal_.

"Thank God you wear your heart on your sleeve, hm? I didn't know how much longer I could take it," Arthur said. Then, a thought suddenly struck him. "Oh, and I actually _do_ wish you a happy birthday, by the way! I just... I wanted to give you a special message like you did for me, but I didn't know how to go about it without revealing anything."

"Oh yeah, _that_!" Alfred laughed in his wonderful way on the other side of the phone. "I knew you meant well, dude! And it _was_ kinda cute."

Arthur knew his face was beet red by this point, and he muttered, "Sh-shut up, it wasn't _cute_."

"Pfft, yeah it was! Anyway," he said before Arthur could protest, "Seeing as how we're now boyfriend and boyfriend, do – d'ya wanna come round to mine _now_ instead of later? If you've got other things to do that's _totally_ fine of course, I just wondered if-"

" _Alfred_ ," Arthur interrupted, grinning. Alfred was a confident bloke, but it seemed that romantic stuff could turn him into a nervous wreck. Now that's _Cute._

"I'd love to, Alfred."

"C-cool!" He could sense that Alfred was relieved. "So, heh, I guess I'll see you soon?"

"See you," Arthur said, then hung up, grinning like a lovesick dork at his phone. And then he _finally_ let it all out – all the excitement and euphoria and giddiness just _burst_ out of him as he rolled off his bed and jumped and squealed all over his room, not caring when his brothers came barging in and saw him bouncing up and down like a hyperactive jack-in-the-box.

 _Alfred was his boyfriend_.

 _His BOYFRIEND_.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" one of his brothers asked, looking truly confused.

"Alfred's my boyfriend and I'm off to his house so if you don't mind please get out I need to change, thanks!" Arthur shoved them out and began getting himself ready to go to Alfred's, the ecstatic feeling not lessening in the slightest.

Ten minutes later he was zipping up his boots when his phone buzzed with a text from Francis.

- _So are you going to change your Facebook relationship status yet?_

- _Alfie has_

Arthur couldn't scowl at Francis meddling in his love life, not after what he'd done.

- _I suppose I'll do it, then._

 _...Thanks, by the way._

- _Always happy to help the romantically-inept ;)_

He just _knew_ that Francis was chuckling behind his phone, and so was Arthur. But Francis was right – he _should_ update his relationship status. Alfred was a social media addict, even if Arthur wasn't.

 _Arthur Kirkland went from being single to being in a relationship with Alfred Foster Jones._

Less than a minute later his phone buzzed again, this time with a Facebook notification.

 _Alfred Foster Jones_

 _And I couldn't be happier! :DD_

Arthur smiled.

* * *

 **A/N- Yo I haven't written something this short in forever. I miss the days of being able to write tiny things.**

 **...Wait, no I don't. I was a crappy writer back then. I still am, but... Less so.**

 **OH OH OH, I got my exam results back, and they were AMAZING! LIKE, 2 A**s, 2 A*s, 5 As, AND 1 B! ...Yeah, I try to ignore that B. I forgive myself for it (kinda) 'cause that was just an absolutely terrible day. Like, probably the worst day I've ever experienced. But STILL! THEY'RE SUPER-AWESOME GRADES! And according to my teacher, I got FULL MARKS on one of my English papers!**

 **Ja, I'm unbelievably happy. XD**

 **Anyway, don't forget to review! :D Also, if you wanna follow my Tumblr, it's 'magic-magpie'. I post my fics there too, along with some drawings I do and a hell of a load of reblogging. XD**


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